Sparks
by jojo54
Summary: Emmett McCarthy had never planned on returning to Forks for anything. He'd left the day he'd graduated and didn't look back. Of course, Emmett had never planned on acquiring a two year old sister at the age of 27 either. AU/AH
1. Prologue

Emmett McCarthy was having a fucking shit day. He'd woken at 9:30 to discover he'd slept through his alarm and wouldn't have time for his morning jog before the joke of a press conference his agent had scheduled him. Of all the things he could be doing with his first free Monday in over two months, a press conference over the state of his shoulder injury was not in the top five. But his jackass of an agent had decided it would be good for his "public appeal", some of which he'd apparently lost when he punched Jasper Fucking Whitlock in the parking lot of a bar.

Surprisingly, the press conference had gone smoothly, save for one awkward question about that dumb fucker Jasper Whitlock. But almost immediately after he'd received a call from his long-time girlfriend where she informed him that she'd flown to Vegas after falling madly in love with some shitty drummer in an up and coming "punk/experimental" band whom she had met two days prior at a concert he had gotten her tickets for. Emmett had then went to physical therapy for the aforementioned shoulder where the doctor told him that it would be at least another month before he could fully rejoin his team at practice. Which meant that fucking shit faced southern boy Jasper Whitlock would again be playing his position for the next six games. It truly pissed Emmett off.

Quite frankly, Emmett didn't believe his day could get any worse, until he received a series of phone calls that turned his entire life upside down.


	2. Chapter 1: Blast from the Past

**Hi there. I guess I forgot to do this for the prologue, but I don't own Twilight or any of its characters.**

**Chapter 1: Blast from the Past**

It doesn't hurt me.  
You wanna feel how it feels?  
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?  
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?  
You (be running up that hill)  
You and me (be running up that hill)

And if I only could,  
Make a deal with God,  
And get him to swap our places,  
Be running up that road,  
Be running up that hill,  
Be running up that building.  
If I only could, oh...

You don't want to hurt me,  
But see how deep the bullet lies.  
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.  
There is thunder in our hearts, baby.  
So much hate for the ones we love?  
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?

Running Up that Hill, _Placebo_

**EMPOV**

The fucking phone had been ringing non-stop for the past hour while I had been trying my hardest to ignore it and drown myself in whiskey. Of course, that wasn't really working; nothing I'd been trying to accomplish had been working lately. I need to get out of here and just go home, the heavy music and the desperation I saw in the eyes of the other patrons of the bar were doing nothing for my mood. Plus I really should see who was trying to call me.

The thing of it is, I don't have family; at least, none that would ever try to get into contact with me. I cut those ties years ago. As for friends, the closest thing to one I had right now was that asshole Jasper Whitlock and I don't think trading insults really counts as a meaningful relationship. There were only two people who would try to call me in the middle of the night: my coach, and we aren't exactly on the best of terms right now or my agent who is a fucking idiot. It probably is my agent calling to try and talk me into another sponsorship. I am so sick of posing shirtless for some fruity smelling cologne. Even worse is when I have to make out with some skanked up model while wearing tight ass jeans I wouldn't be caught dead in.

Moving quickly through the bar I waved goodbye to the teammates I had come with and burst out into the cool air of Chicago. I love Chicago. I've spent way too much time in small towns where everyone knows fucking everything about you.

As I walked down the street I flipped my phone open and scrolled through my calls. All of them came from a number I had never seen before. Clicking on my voicemail I steeled myself for messages from "relatives" begging for cash, or desperate fans claiming to be madly in love with me - "if you meet me I know you'll feel it too" was pretty much left on my voicemail daily.

"McCarthy? This is Jacob Black. I know you didn't want to hear from any of us ever again, and I understand that. But I'm the chief of police in Forks now and also the only one able to get a hold of you. Listen, call me back, I have some news about your parents." Click.

To say I was surprised to hear from Jacob Black would be the understatement of the century. We only spoke when absolutely necessary, per my request. I had left him and everything else in Forks behind nine years ago. Shoving my phone back into my pocket I picked up my pace, now desperate to get back to my apartment. Memories were flashing through my mind; winning the state championship with Jake, spending almost all of senior year at his house, packing all of my things into my twelve year old jeep, vowing to leave and never look back.

It's not that I didn't want to remain friends with Jake. It's that every time we talked my life before I left was brought up, and it became way too much to handle. I was trying to make a new start without having all of that fucking baggage. So I told him that I didn't want to hear from him unless it was actually necessary. And I haven't. I keep him up to date with my phone number and address through texts. It has been better this way.

I shook my head and tried my absolute hardest to get rid of the memories that were plaguing me, concentrating on the steps I was taking.

Reaching my building I greeted the night guard and headed up the three flights of stairs that would bring me to my apartments. I am not one for flashy things but I do like having room to sprawl out so I had purchased both units on the third floor when I moved in here. I kept one as my private domain, where only I ever went. The other was where I entertained company and did business shit. Unlocking my private apartment I flipped on the lights and headed straight for my office. I paused at the door of my bedroom and thought about pretending I had never received any calls from Jake. Whatever he wanted was going to dig up things I had no desire to think about and I'm not sure I was ready to deal with.

Running my fingers through my cropped hair I continued down the hall to my guest room; I didn't want to taint my bedroom with talk of my parents. Dialing the number Jake had left I plopped into a couch and waited.

"Emmett? I guess you got my message. I'm surprised you called back."

It was a voice I hadn't heard in years and one I hadn't realized I'd missed. Clearing my throat I said, "I wasn't sure I was going to. I wanted to pretend you never called but I owe you more then that. Listen Jake; I don't care what they do with the bodies. Give them to the state or something. Fuck, you can burn them or dump them in a river. Just get rid of them, if you need me to sign some authorization papers or some shit just send them to me."

There was a long pause and a deep inhalation of breath on the other line before Jake spoke. "Em, man, they died in some sort of car accident two days ago but that isn't why I'm calling. I knew you wouldn't care so I didn't bother calling when I heard about it. Did you know Renee and Charlie had been living in Arizona for the past few years?"

"No. We didn't exactly keep in contact." I was feeling a bit dizzy. I mean, I knew they were dead. That would be the only logical reason for Jake to call me. But why did it matter that they had lived in Arizona?

"Okay. Well. They had been and they came back to Forks less then a month ago. Caused a lot of gossip too, they were keeping to themselves, being unfriendly to their

neighbors. Charlie wasn't cutting the grass, and whenever either of them went out they wouldn't answer direct questions. You know how Forks is. If you don't socialize or pretend to socialize you're an outcast, of course, they were already subject for gossip. Renee was obviously using again, she looked like a fucking mess, skinny and bruised, straggly hair and all. Charlie got pulled over for a DUI about a week ago, punched one of my officers too. He was in jail for the night but Renee came and bailed him out. I'm not sure where she got the cash; they didn't seem to have jobs."

Jake would talk for hours if you let him; I'd forgotten that. "Jake. Can you get to the point?"

"Jesus, I am, you've always fucking interrupted me when I'm in the middle of trying to tell you something."

I could hear him gritting his teeth on the other line, "Sorry. I just don't get why any of this is relevant. I don't want to know what Charlie and Renee were up to. That's why I left. So I didn't have to deal with their shit."

"It is relevant. Why the fuck else would I be telling you? Let me finish before you start going off on me. So as I was saying, they were keeping to themselves. Charlie had obviously fallen back into the bottle and Renee was using meth. I got a call from Seattle early yesterday morning telling me they had been in a car accident and that I needed to search the place they had been staying for drugs or whatever. So I took Quil, you remember Quil right? He was a sophomore when we were seniors."

"Yes. I remember Quil." Rolling my eyes I sank deeper into the couch.

"Good. He didn't think you would now that you're pro and everything. I told him you wouldn't just forget him that you weren't like that. Anyway, I took Quil and we went to the place they had been renting out. At first we didn't find anything interesting, it was a fucking mess but pretty much what we had been expecting. There were a few grams of coke and a shitty little meth lab in the basement, which wasn't a surprise. But then we went down the hall to the bedrooms," I heard Jake inhale and when he started talking again his voice was shaking, "Emmett. There was a baby in their room. She was sitting in this playpen and she didn't make a fucking noise when we came in. Just sat there and looked at us."

My breath caught in my throat and I swore violently. Why the fuck would they have had a baby? They didn't like children. They'd made that abundantly clear to me throughout my childhood.

"God Emmett, she was a mess, filthy and undernourished with these huge brown eyes just staring at me. Who knows how long she had been in there alone. What if we hadn't searched the house until today? I can't believe they had a baby no one knew about. When I picked her up from that playpen she just latched onto me and wouldn't let go. She's tiny Emmett, way small for her age, but she has a death grip. While I was holding her Quil found her birth certificate in a pile of bills and eviction notices, her name is Isabella Marie Swan. She turned two about a month ago, which means Renee was something like 41 when she was born."

"I can't wrap my mind around this Jake. Why the fuck did they keep her? Or even have her in the first place? Renee is all about living for herself. There is no way I can imagine her intentionally having a fucking baby, or caring for a baby. Did she stay clean when she was pregnant? Fuck, Jake, where is she going to go? It's not like someone in Forks is going to take in Renee and Charlie Swans child, they'll assume she has something wrong with her."

Jake was silent for a few minutes, and then said, "Emmett. She's in our custody for the next two days, but after that she goes to her next of kin. And at this point in time the only person who's contacted us is Charlie's dad."

Motherfucker. My grandfather had tortured me when I was younger; locking me in closets for hours at a time, holding my face underwater when he gave me baths, things like that. Jesus.

"But Em, I've talked to the social worker assigned to the case. He said you'd be able to adopt her over your grandfather. It has to be adoption though. They want her placed in a stable environment and a temporary guardianship won't do it. You just need to get here within the next two days."

I can honestly say I never thought I would be in this situation. How the fuck was I supposed to just adopt a baby? Where would I put her when I was traveling for games? And then there was the whole, I've never taken care of or been around a baby thing. But I couldn't let her go to my grandfather. He was a sick piece of shit.

Running my hand through my cropped curls I clenched my jaw, blinked hard twice and said, " Jake. I'll be in Forks by noon tomorrow. What the fuck do I need to bring?"

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading this. It's my first attempt at actually writing something other then papers for school. If anyone's interested in beta-ing let me know, I'm sure there are a ton of grammatical errors that I didn't catch. I think the next POV will be Rosalie, so be prepared for that. **


	3. Chapter 2: Bromance

**I don't own Twilight.**

**Chapter 2: **

When there's nowhere else to run  
Is there room for one more son  
One more son  
If you can hold on  
If you can hold on, hold on

I wanna stand up, I wanna let go  
You know, you know - no you don't, you don't  
I wanna shine on in the hearts of men  
I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand

Another head aches, another heart breaks  
I am so much older than I can take  
And my affection, well it comes and goes  
I need direction to perfection, no no no no

Help me out  
Yeah, you know you got to help me out  
Yeah, oh don't you put me on the backburner  
You know you got to help me out, yeah

And when there's nowhere else to run  
Is there room for one more son  
These changes ain't changing me  
The cold-hearted boy I used to be

All These Things I've Done, _The Killers_

**JakePOV**

I never thought I would see Emmett McCarthy again. When he left Forks 9 years ago he told me he'd keep in touch, and he did. For a while. I understood when he said he couldn't handle talking to me anymore; that every time we'd talk he'd end up in the same place he was when he left and he'd worked too hard to overcome all of that stuff. I promised I would contact him only in a true emergency, and I feel like I kept that promise. For the past 5 years there has been no communication between us other then the updates on addresses and phone numbers. But I never thought I'd actually see him in person again. And I never imagined this emergency.

I hadn't told anyone else he was coming back either. Except for the social worker lady, but that was necessary and completely on the DL.

Pulling into the airports parking lot I glance back at the car seat fastened into my Jeep; she is fast asleep, her tiny features scrunched up in hard concentration. I park quickly near the entrance and swear softly at the clock. Emmett's plane had arrived at least fifteen minutes ago, and he'd probably been waiting for ten of those. Great way to greet your long lost best friend, Jake.

Jumping out of the Jeep I move quickly to the backseat and carefully unbuckle Bella; I don't want to wake her up because she seems to get nervous in crowds. Tucking her under one arm I move quickly toward the entrance.

I feel Bella waking up as I walk toward baggage; she yawns and murmurs soft words to herself, seemingly content to sit in my arms. Crossing into luggage I notice Emmett sitting at a small table surrounded by thirty or forty people, signing autographs and chatting about the season so far. As I walk closer I hear him tell a boy of 7 or 8 that he'll be playing again in a week, no doubt about it. I grin to myself because this is the Emmett I remember-easy going and a blatant liar. His shoulder injury was going to keep him out for at least another month.

I'm just standing there, watching him like a creep when I hear a small whimper come from Bella. Before I've even fully registered the sound it morphs into a scream and I am panicked. She hadn't done anything like this when the social worker lady was with me. She'd been completely silent, watching us with big eyes and sitting in the tightest spaces she could find; under my desk, between two bookshelves at the doctors office, and the corner of whatever room we were in.

The doctor had told me not to worry about it, that she'd eventually grow comfortable enough to speak and be out in the open. But I was still worried. Because she wouldn't be staying in quiet Forks, where everyone she saw would become familiar-she would be going to Chicago. Where she'd be living with a pro-football player who isn't known for his calm lifestyle. She'd be around his teammates and most likely traveling all over the country because God knows Emmett has never trusted people to look after his responsibilities. At least, when I knew him he didn't.

I shook my head and focused on Bella who was now screaming and crying for all she was worth, her face mottled and clinging desperately to my shirt. Rocking back and forth I try to sing to calm her down.

_"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going an-y-where..." _

This is totally not working. She seems to be screaming louder to drown out the noise of my voice. I look up and try to find someone who looks like they know how to deal with a baby and my eyes meet Emmett's.

He nods and glances to the screaming child in my arms. With a sweep of his huge forearm he sends his fans away. They scuttle off, looking pleased with their conversations with a football star.

It's only as Emmett is walking toward me that I really take in how large he's gotten. I mean, he was big when we were teenagers, but now he's huge-at least 6'4" and probably 245 pounds of raw muscle.

"Jake." Emmett says over Bella's screams, which seem to be dying off.

I hold out the hand that isn't cradling Bella and he shakes it roughly.

"What's with her?" he asks, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"I really don't know," I mutter, swaying a bit back and forth, "she doesn't like crowds very much though."

By now Bella's screams are just whimpers and I can feel her body relaxing against me, fading fast into sleep. Emmett is staring at her, concentrating on her delicate features and blindingly white skin.

I motion for Emmett to hold his arms out, and before he realizes what I'm doing, I deposit Bella in them.

"Emmett. This is your sister, Isabella Marie. We, I mean, the guys and I, have been calling her Bella. Now where is all of your shit? We have a lot to do if you expect to leave tonight still."

"So all I have to do is sign these papers and you're handing her over to me?"

Emmett seems pissed off, and I don't get why. "Well, yeah. I thought you'd appreciate the quick process. I've done most of the paperwork for you."

"Jesus, Jake. It's not that I don't appreciate it. It just seems too easy. Like anyone could come and just take her. I figured it would take a hell of a lot longer then five minutes to do all of this shit. You know what I mean?"

Scratching my head, I focus on space of blank wall above Emmett's ear. "Uh, yeah. We, the social worker lady and I, kinda made the process shorter for you. Because you were coming from a long way and didn't want to be here any longer then you need to be."

"Oh. I just thought, I don't know, that someone would show me how to take care of her. Jake, I have never been in charge of another person before. I don't know how to handle a baby. Does she even talk? Or walk? And what the fuck does she eat?"

"I can show you some stuff, if you want. I thought you'd want to leave straight after this, but if you want to stick around for a while I can show you some of the things the social worker showed me," I feel like I'm in a fucking Lifetime movie, all we need is for one of us to start crying, "and yeah. She can sort of walk and she doesn't really talk all that much. As for the food, I think she eats pretty much anything we do. The social worker left some books if you want to read up on two year olds."

"Yeah. That would be good. Listen, I really do want to thank you for all of this, especially for calling me. I know it probably wasn't easy for you to do that after the way I've treated everyone for so long."

Emmett wasn't looking at me when he was talking; he was mostly staring at the ground and rubbing his hand through his hair. But I could tell he was serious, and it felt good knowing I had done the right thing in calling him.

"It was no big deal, I mean, you'd have done the same for me if the situation was reversed," I pause and inhale deeply, deciding to change the subject before one of us actually does start crying, "but anyway, I'll go get you those books and I then I can show you how to fasten the car seat in. I would never have figured it out if someone hadn't shown me."

**EMPOV**

It took over forty minutes to get that fucking car seat in the right way, even with Jake showing me. Being around Jake is sort of like being a teenager again, once we shook off the awkwardness we were acting like we always had: hanging out and trying to piss each other off. The only real difference was the sleeping toddler in the playpen.

"So, Jake, you still dating that chick from the rez?"

It was fun to see what Jake would say to questions like that. Half the time he would become so flustered he couldn't finish his answer, and the other half he made shit up. I swear to God, that guy is a fucking compulsive liar.

"Yeah, umm, no. We broke up like 5 years ago. I'm pretty much single now, even though the ladies are all over me. I mean, I am the chief of police, which is a big turn on for a lot of women." Jake was intensely focused on showing me how buckle a sack of flour into the car seat. "I was sort of dating this girl named Leah, but she only wanted me when I was unavailable. The second I asked her on a date she claimed to have other plans. Which is complete bullshit, I know her mom's birthday wasn't even near when I was asking her out. She was my next-door neighbor growing up. You should actually remember her with the amount of time you spent at my house."

I couldn't have ever forgotten her. Jake used to spend hours talking about her, and watching out the window just in case she walked by. "Nope. I don't think I do. But I don't remember a lot of things."

"Yeah. I guess you wouldn't," Jake looked uncomfortable, "but she really is cool. Even though she wouldn't go to the movie with me."

"Fuck Jake. She was probably put off by your stalking, I mean, it's a known fact that you've been half in love with her since we were fifteen."

"I have not. And you don't even know who she is. So what the hell are you even talking about?"

"I do too know who she is, Jesus, I couldn't ever have forgotten if I wanted to. You spent most of high school talking about her: Leah is trying out for cheerleading, Leah is going to the dance with Quil, and Leah made eye contact with me today. I'm surprised it took you this long to ask her out."

"Yeah, well she was married for something like five years. The minute I heard her divorce was final I invited her to dinner. And she went! But like a week after that I asked her if maybe she'd want to drive to Port Angeles and have dinner and see a movie she was all, oh, sorry Jake, it's my mom's birthday. What the fuck is that even about?"

By now Jake was pacing around the room, growing redder and redder in the face. When you get Jake started on a topic it is incredibly difficult to divert his attention, but I really didn't want to go over all of his women troubles. Obviously he had more then his fair share of them.

A whimper from Bella caught my attention, and glancing down at my watch I realized I needed to get a move on if we were going to catch our plane to Chicago. Jake was still muttering to himself when I stood up.

"Jake, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all that you've done for me. And I'll probably be calling you when I can't figure out how to get a fucking car seat into my Hummer. Especially since I didn't buy the same brand you have here. We really should have thought of that, huh? Anyway, I'll be calling you either way. I think this whole no-communication thing was too drastic. I mean, I'm here now and I'm completely fine, right?"

"Truth. And you probably will fuck up the car seat, 'cause God knows you couldn't do it here when I was showing you. But you've never been good with directions, have you?"

"Whatever, asshole."

Picking up Bella, who was now alert and staring at me in absurd fascination, I start packing up the shit Jake had bought for her in the two days she was in his custody.

"Jesus, how much stuff does a two year old need Jake?"

"It wasn't me who bought all of this. It was my sisters. I swear to God, I said I'm bringing home a baby for like a day and they go out and buy half a baby store. It's not like you can even take it all with you."

"Well, maybe I'll leave it here and when we come back and visit she can use it."

Looking up I catch Jake's huge grin. He looks like the fucking cat that swallowed the canary, and his eyes were watery.

"Emmett, man, I can't tell you how happy I am. I mean, I respect your need to be away and have some distance, but I've missed you so fucking much. When you left it was like losing a brother, like you were dead but I couldn't mourn, you know?"

And the weird thing is I kind of do. I cut every fucking tie to Forks when I left. I didn't take any pictures. I didn't call beyond what I had to. And I didn't consider what my leaving had done to my best friend.

"Jake, I'll be back. I promise. Or you could come to Chicago. It's a pretty short flight. Plus you'll want to visit Bella; you guys are fucking connected now. In fact, you should probably be there when my agent makes me have a press conference, 'cause he definitely is going to make me have one."

"Just tell me when and I'll be there. Anytime Emmett, whenever you need me."

Bella is fussing in my arms, and I know we need to get going before this becomes even more of a bro-lovefest where one of us starts crying and the other starts singing about being the wind beneath the others wings.

"Let's go. You have ten minutes to get us to the airport and you sure as hell aren't speeding with Bella in the car."

**I know I said it was going to be Rose's POV, but I couldn't get into it. Thanks for reading, and if you review I'll send you a teaser for the next chapter. **


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